Evening Fly Past
Written by Dmytro Chystiak
Translated from the Ukrainian by Hilary Sheers
Narrated by C. P. Price
1.
Humble cottages, pale blue and white,
In the twilight of dusk still hum, still hum…
Yet nobody kindles a light.
2.
Horses come to honey.
Drips will splash down for you
At night in meteorites.
Blue church grown shabbier,
Although it did flap with a white sail
Above the bustling afternoon …
Young ones come to honey.
The smell of incense
Is for the first time – lonely.
Wormwood has a bitter taste.
It bursts into flower at night
Into the dark eyes
Of an exhausted patron saint
Mercilessly
Love-me-do-not-leave me.
3.
A path in a green mist –
To the wells of evening.
They stay silent.
The light recedes.
Again no drop of yours.
Thirst and sadness.
Again you pass me by
Behind the horizon.
Do not leave me…
Visible far beyond the circle:
Snakes cry for snakes
Lost in the once green field.
Rejoice: night embraces
Everyone in the end,
A drab horizon veiled in mist
The innocent chalice too.
Light creeps in.
You return in others.
Crashing in
Wave after wave
Foreboding
Sea.